Paper money counting apparatus



Mar h 1966 KAZUO UCHlYAMA ETAL 3,241,757

PAPER MONEY COUNTING APPARATUS Filed Oct. 15, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet l March 22, 1966 KAZUO UCHIYAMA ETAL 3,241,757

PAPER MONEY COUNTING APPARATUS Filed Oct. 15, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG. 3

FIG. 4(A) FIG. 4(5) United States Patent Ofiice 3,241,757 PAPER MONEY COUNTING APPARATUS Kazuo Uchiyama and Hiroshi Yamada, Setagaya-ku,

Tokyo-to, Japan, assignors to Sanko Kikai Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha, Ota-ku, Tokyo-to, Japan, a joint-stock company of Japan Filed Oct. 15, 1963, Ser. No. 316,333 Claims priority, application Japan, Oct. 20, 1962, 37/61,353, 37/61,354 3 Claims. (Cl. 235-98) The present invention relates to a new type paper money counting apparatus.

A large number of paper money counting machines of conventional type have been made and sold heretofore, but all of such conventional counting machines are not free from shortcomings in the speed and reliability of their counting operation.

It is, therefore, the object of this invention to eliminate the said shortcomings by providing a new type paper money counting apparatus, which has a novel mechanism and makes it possible to perform a speedy and reliable counting operation.

The said object and other objects of this invention will become more apparent by reference to the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which the same members are designated by the same reference characters, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing the main part of an apparatus embodying the features of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a side view showing the main part of the apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side view, partly in section, of the internal mechanism of a rotary table provided with suction heads according to this invention;

FIGS. 4(A) and 4(B) are plan view and side view, respectively, of the suction head of the mechanism of FIG. 3.

Referring to the drawings, the counting apparatus comprises a main body 1, a rotary table 2 which is rotated by an electric motor 4 on a base plate 3 of the main body 1 of the paper money counter, and five suction heads 5 which are rotatably mounted on the rotary table 2, said heads being placed concentrically to the center of the rotary table 2 at equal intervals. The details of structures and functions of the rotary table 2 and suction heads 5 are explained in connection with FIGS. 3 and 4, in which a supporting shaft 7 of the rotary table 2 is secured to a fixed base plate 6, a vacuum passage 7a communicating with a vacuum pump P is provided axially in the central portion of said shaft 7. The rotary table 2 is supported by means of bearings 8 and 9 so as to be rotated with respect to the supporting shaft 7, and the five suction heads 5 are supported by means of bearings 10 and 11 so as to be rotated with respect to the rotary table 2, each of said heads being provided at its upper end with a face 5b being inclined in a tangential direction and being perpendicular to the axial direction of said head. At its upper middle portion the head is provided With a vacuum suction hole 5a, and at its bottom end portion with a gear 12 which in turn is engaged with an inside gear 13 provided on the circumference of the fixed base plate 6. The rotary table 2 is provided with a ringshaped cavity 14 which is separated into five sector chambers by means of five radial partitions, said sector chambers being connected at its internal end to the vacuum passage 7a formed inside the supporting shaft 7, at a point near the upper end thereof, and at its external end to the lower part of a vacuum passage 5c which is formed inside the suction head 5 and communicated with the vacuum suction hole 5a. Accordingly, while the rotary 3,241,757 Patented Mar. 22, 1966 table 2 rotates for one fifth of a revolution, i.e., 72 degrees, the upper end of the vacuum passage 7a of the supporting shaft 7 communicates with either one of the said sector chambers of the ring-shaped cavity 14, whereby a suction head 5 being in communication with said chamber effectively performs a vacuum sucking action. During one revolution of the rotary table 2, the suction head 5 is switched five times. In this case, the suction head 5 must be arranged so as to take a correct sucking position as shown in C of FIG. 1 at every /5 revolution of the rotary table 2. Such a timing can be attained by adequate selection of gear ratio between the gear 12 and the inside gear 13. Furthermore, inclination of the face 5b of the suction head 5 is selected so that paper money on said face can be sucked most easily. As seen in FIG. 4, said inclination is selected at about 15 degrees with regard to a line a-a which is orthogonal to the vacuum suction hole 5a.

In FIG. 1, a paper money holding plate 15 has a bent portion 15a protruding toward the side of said rotary table 2 at a portion near the vacuum suction portion C of the rotary table 2, said holding plate being provided at its inside surface with a sponge liner 15b and being made to be moved reciprocally in the direction as indicated by arrows along a guide slot 16 by operating a handle 15c. The holding plate 15 is always held on a stopper 17 by means of a spring device (not shown in the drawing), said stopper being provided with a sponge liner 17a on the opposite side to the sponge liner 15b. A stack of paper money 18 is held between the holding plate 15 and the stopper 17 which are guided at their leftside ends by a guide plate 19. The apparatus comprises counter indicating tubes 20 which are conventionally applied to various counting devices which have to achieve quick indications and elimination of the counting. At every time the suction head 5 sucks paper money .at a regular sucking position, a rnicroswitch mechanism (not shown in the drawings) is set into action, whereby counting is performed one by one in regular sequence and the result thereof is indicated on the said indicating tubes. Operation of the above-mentioned apparatus will now be described in detail hereinbelow.

When a main switch of the electric power source is closed, the motor 4 starts and the rotary table 2 is rocated in the direction as indicated by an arrow mark A through a driving belt 21. At the same time, each suction head 5 is rotated in the direction as indicated by an arrow mark B through the gear 12 provided at its bottom end and the internal gear 13 of the base plate 6 being meshed thereto. Each of the suction heads 5 is adjusted so that at its sucking position C (FIG. 1) the suction face 5b will be exactly in parallel with the oposite face of the holding plate 15. Since the suction head 5 is in communication with the vacuum pump P, when the suction head 5 reaches said position C, the end portion of the innermost paper money 18 is sucked and folded to the right as indicated by a chain line. Next, when the succeeding suction head comes to the sucking position C, it sucks the subsequent sheet of paper money and send-s its end to the position of the said chain line, thus repeating such operations regularly. Counting speed of this apparatus is set so as to count sheets of paper money in about 7 to 8 seconds. This counting speed is determined by taking such requirement into consideration as that, for example, minimization of fatique of opeartors eyes, mental stability derived from the knowledge of counting being carried out, and capability of certain clerical work while the counting is being made. The holding plate 15 has a protruding bent portion 15a projected at its left portion toward the vacuumv sucking position C, said bent portion 15a being formed as a shape adapted to cause the bundle of paper money to be deformed asshown in FIG. 1. Since this deformation of paper money produces a tendency to extend itself in a straight direction due to elasticity of the paper money, said tendency serving as an aid in the sucking and counting operation of the suction head, the sucking and counting ope-rations are performed smoothly and reliably.

In the above embodiment, the vacuum pump, the indication tubes for counting and the microswitch device for actuating the said tubes are not concretely shown in the drawings and described in the specification, because these appliances are well known in the art and do not constitute characteristic features of the present invention, hence they are omitted from this specification and drawings.

As described in the foregoing, this invention relates to a paper money counting apparatus wherein such novel technical elements as described above are adopted, which is able to count a large number of paper money with extremely high speed and great accuracy, is convenient in handling due to it being constructed in compact dimension as whole, and is indispensable for improving business efiiciency. While the invention has been explained by describing a particular embodiment thereof, it will be apparent that improvements and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A paper money counting apparatus which comprises a base plate, a rotary table mounted on the base plate, an electric motor for driving said table, a plurality of suction heads, a shaft for supporting each head in a freely rotatable manner with respect to said rotary table, gear means to rotate each suction head in a sense opposite to the direction of rotation of said rotary table, a paper money holding plate supported on said base plate extending in a direction generally tangential to said rotary table, one end of the holding plate adjacent said rotary table being formed With a curved portion protruding toward the rotary table so as to cause a deformation of the paper money to be counted, a sponge liner on the surface of said money holding plate to contact the paper money placed thereon, and each suction head having a face inclined in a tangential direction and perpendicular to the axial direction of each head whereby such face will be parallel with the adjacent face of the holding plate so that the money on said face can be easily aspirated, and a counting indicator device operable each time that a suction head is successively moved to its operating position in contact with the money to be counted.

2. The paper money counting apparatus as claimed claim 1 in which each suction head is provided with an aperture and said face is inclined at about 15 with respect to a line orthogonal to said aperture in the head.

3. The paper money counting apparatus of claim 1 including a guide plate to contact the end of paper money to be counted adjacent said rotary table.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,810,575 10/1957 Holmen 271-27 2,912,242 11/ 1959 Richardson 27127 3,008,748 11/ 1961 Rives 27126 X FOREIGN PATENTS 253,432 11/1912 Germany.

14,132 6/ 1910 Great Britain.

LEO SMILOW, Primary Examiner.

LEYLAND M. MARTIN, Examiner. 

1. A PAPER MONEY COUNTING APPARATUS WHICH COMPRISES A BASE PLATE, A ROTARY TABLE MOUNTED ON THE BASE PLATE, AND ELECTRIC MOTOR FOR DRIVING SAID TABLE, A PLURALITY OF SUCTION HEADS, A SHAFT FOR SUPPORTING EACH HEAD IN A FREELY ROTATABLE MANNER WITH RESPECT TO SAID ROTARY TABLE, GEAR MEANS TO ROTATE EACH SUCTION HEAD IN A SENSE OPPOSITE TO THE DIRECTION OF ROTATION OF SAID ROTAR TABLE, A PAPER MONEY HOLDING PLATE SUPPORTED ON SAID BASE PLATE EXTENDING IN A DIRECTION GENERALLY TANGENTIAL TO SAID ROTARY TABLE, ONE END OF THE HOLDING PLATE ADJACENT SAID ROTARY TABLE BEING FORMED WITH A CURVED PORTION PROTRUDING TOWARD THE ROTARY TABLE SO AS TO CAUSE A DEFORMATION OF THE PAPER MONEY TO BE COUNTED, A SPONGE LINER ON THE SURFACE OF SAID MONEY HOLDING PLATE TO CONTACT THE PAPER MONEY PLACED THEREON, AND EACH SUCTION HEAD HAVING A FACE INCLINED IN A TANGENTIAL DIRECTION AND PERPENDICULAR TO THE AXIAL DIRECTION OF EACH HEAD WHEREBY SUCH FACE WILL BE PARALLEL WITH THE ADJACENT FACE OF THE HOLDING PLATE SO THAT THE MONEY ON SAID FACE CAN BE EASILY ASPIRATED, AND A COUNTING INDICATOR DEVICE OPERABLE EACH TIME THAT A SUCTION HEAD IS SUCCESSIVELY MOVED TO ITS OPERATING POSITION IN CONTACT WITH THE MONEY TO BE COUNTED. 